I chose the Giver as my book for the Independent Reading Project, because I have always been interested in the concept of Utopian societies like the one in the book. One of my friends recommended this book, and it sounded like a great book.
Genre
The book The Giver falls into the genre of Utopian or Dystopian fiction. Utopian fiction is the creation of a perfect world as the setting for the book. Dystopian fiction is a perfect world gone wrong as the setting for the book. The Giver is also in the genre of fantasy or science fiction. Science fiction is the genre that deals with situations that while fictitious are plausible. They are mainly set in the future, and the book usually will include very advanced technology, like the ability to control weather in the Giver.
In the genre of fantasy, supernatural, or implausible happenings go on. In The Giver, one of these implausible things is the transfer of memories through touch. The Giver also falls into the category of a bildungsroman, or a coming of age story. Jonas comes of age when receiving the memories and learning about the world, Pre-Sameness. The memories he receives help him to grow as a person, and have emotions never felt in his community by anyone other than previous receivers. Jonas begins to come of age when he first is assigned to the role of Receiver in his community.
Summary
In Lois Lowry's The Giver, a young boy named Jonas is living in a Utopian society. When a member of his community turns 12, they are given a job. Jonas is assigned the special task of Receiver. The Receiver carries the memories of before the community went into sameness. As Jonas gets to know his mentor, the Giver, and learn about concepts such as family and love, he begins to get frustrated with the community. They will never know true pain, like war or starving, or true happiness, like love or family without memories of the past. Jonas struggles to maintain his place in society while he is emotionally more advanced than the community. Jonas and the Giver try to help fix the community and return it to pre-sameness.
Characters
Jonas is a seemingly average 11 year old boy. His whole life he has followed the rules and expectations of his community. When he turns 12 and gets assigned a job, he is given the rare assignment of receiver of memories. Jonas was selected for this because he shows himself to be capable of it. He shows a thoughtfulness not seen in other children. Jonas cares for the people around him in a way his classmates and his family cannot. Jonas is shown to be intelligent, perceptive and kind. Jonas has the ability to see colors that The Giver calls seeing beyond. "But when he looked out across the crowd, the sea of faces, the thing happened again. The thing that had happened with the apple. They changed. He blinked, and it was gone. His shoulder straightened slightly. Briefly he felt a tiny sliver of sureness for the first time." (p 63) Jonas chooses to use his volunteer hours in several places instead of sticking to one like most children. He enjoys the freedom of choosing which is not common in their community. As he begins his new job, all of these traits are strengthened. As he learns about families and love, he realizes that he loves his family in a way that they cannot return to him. "With his new, heightened feelings, he was overwhelmed by sadness at the way the others had laughed and shouted, playing at war. But he knew that they could not understand why, without the memories." (p. 135) He found many things about the community confusing or unfair. After starting his training with the Giver, he finds these things horrible and frustrating. The actions of the community upset Jonas and make him realize that the ways of the community are harsh and unfair. He and the Giver formulate a plan to restore fairness and freedom to the community.
The Giver is an old man who is, in many ways,a contradiction. He has the wisdom of someone who has experienced everything, even though his life has been truly uneventful. The Giver is quiet, thoughtful, and patient. He, like Jonas, has compassion for people in a way most members of the community cannot."It's the way they live. It's the life that was created for them. It's the same life that you would have, if you had not been chosen as my successor." (p 153) The Giver also feels the pain and sadness from the memories. He has the job of coping with these memories until they are passed to the next Receiver."Simply stated, although it's not really simple at all, my job is to transmit to you all the memories I have within me. Memories of the past." (p. 77) These emotions make it tough to cope with the loss of Rosemary, the receiver in training who requested release. The Giver has experienced not only his own pain but the pain of hundreds of generations before him. The Giver has spent his entire life taking walks, living comfortably, and eating well, but he has the pain of being tortured, starved and homeless. His love for Jonas eventually convinces him to stop accepting that the community has to be this way. He and Jonas stand up against them and return the memories to the community. The Giver stays behind, because he still cares about the future of the people and tries to help them cope with the memories the way he tried to help Jonas and Rosemary.
Jonas' father is a nurturer in the community. Other then the Giver and Jonas, he seems to be the only character to show real emotions. He shows compassion for his children and the new children at his job. He seems to have many similar traits to Jonas. He is very worried about the new children and feels pain when he has to release them, even if it is to a lesser degree than the Giver or Jonas.Towards the beginning of the book, he lets his daughter, Lily, keep her stuffed animal, even though she needs to stop sleeping with it because he knows how much it means to her. He also realizes that bringing Gabriel, a sick new child, home might keep him from being released, so he tries everything he can to help him. Jonas' father also shows himself to be a bit rebellious, a trait almost never found in the community when he tries to find Gabriel's name, because he thinks it could help him. " In the end, however, Jonas' father is still a member of the community. He agrees with Jonas' mother that the word love is "meaningless" and "overused". He still releases the new children and he is still part of the dystopian society.
Themes
There are a few major themes in the Giver. One of the most important of these is the relationship between pain and joy. Jonas finds this out through the memories he receives. He learns that without pain, there can be no joy. Regardless of the joy of an event, it cannot be fully enjoyed without the memory of what suffering feels like. You cannot fully value the feeling of pleasure or joy. Jonas' community, because the pain and suffering have been taken from their lives, cannot feel real joy.
Another important theme of The Giver is the importance of individuality. In Jonas' community, there is no individuality. Everyone's exactly the same. "It was the sort of thing one didn't ask a friend about because it might have fallen into the uncomfortable category of 'being different'." (Page 38). Jonas tries to break free of his communities' sameness. Jonas becomes an individual in his world.
A third theme of this book is the role memory plays in life. The realization in this book is the concept of not being able to remember mistakes and, because of this, not being able to feel pain or regret. However, without these memories, the society might repeat past mistakes. So the Committee of Elders created the position of Receiver. The Receiver collects all memories and occasionally advises the Elders. As Jonas undergoes training he realizes that without memories there is no pain, but there is also no true happiness. All of the themes of this book show the consequences of sameness. No one in the community can really feel happiness or joy. Jonas and the Giver try to save the community and help them to feel all of these emotions - good and bad.
Major Conflict
There are three major conflicts in Lois Lowry's The Giver. The first being Jonas' uncertainty in himself and in his role as the Receiver. "He hunched his shoulders and tried to make himself smaller in the seat. He wanted to disappear, to fade away, not to exist. He didn't dare to turn and find his parents in the crowd. He couldn't bear to see their faces darkened with shame. Jonas bowed his head and searched through his mind. What had he done wrong?" Jonas does not feel as though he is helping the community and eventually asks the Giver why he cannot just do a normal job.The second major conflict is Jonas' anger with his parents, his friends, and the community in general at their lack of understanding. Jonas has trouble coming to terms with the fact that his community will never understand his emotions. Jonas gets angry when his mother tells her family that she felt sad that day. He knows that she will never feel truly sad. He and The Giver are the only two who understand these emotions, and the knowledge of this upsets Jonas a great deal. The third major conflict in The Giver is Jonas and the Giver attempting to change society. Since the Giver was twelve, he was sure this was how it had to be. Once Jonas comes along and he realizes the pain put on one person is too much, he decides they need to rebel and fix society. It takes Jonas until around halfway through the book to be able to realize that the ways of the society are corrupt, and something needs to be done. Eventually, Jonas rebels against the communities' ways. While these three conflicts were very important, they all tie together and form the major conflict. The major conflict in The Giver is the man versus society aspect of the book. Because of their complex emotions, Jonas and the Giver are outsiders in their society, and they work to change that.
Symbolic Images
The three pictures of the girl represent the emotions of the community. The picture on the right of the girl who seems joyful and happy represents the joy and happiness in the memories of snow, sunshine, family, and love. The picture on the right stands for the pain in the memories of poverty, starvation, and war. The girl in the middle represents the community. The community has small doses of both, represented by the dirt and the slight smile, but cannot feel the extreme of either.
Words
Palpable - Page 3 - "Now, thinking about the feeling of fear as he pedaled home along the river path, he remembered that moment of palpable stomach sinking terror when the aircraft had streaked above." -easily detected, obvious
Petulantly - page 22 "...I think I'd like that, said Lily petulantly." -irritably
Pervaded - page 122 But this time he fit right and felt the happiness that pervaded the memory." -completely filled
Indolence - page 61 "What we observe as playfulness and patience - the requirements to become a nurturer - could with maturity be revealed as simple foolishness and indolence." -laziness
Grotesquely - page 119 "The colors of the carnage were grotesquely bright." -disgustingly
Similar Existing Works
Many other books and movies are similar to The Giver. In the book,The Uglies, by Scott Westerfield, there is also a Utopian community similar to the community in The Giver. Another similarity between the two books is the specific ages that events happen at. In The Giver, at age nine, children receive a bike. At age twelve, they receive their careers. In the Uglies, at age 12, the children are sent to Uglyville, and at age 16, the undergo the operation to become pretty. Another similar book series is The Hunger Games by Susanne Collins. These books are set in a world where rules are the most important thing in the society. In both books, rules are seen being broken (Jonas teaching his sister to ride a bike) (Gale and Katniss going hunting), but almost everyone in the community tries to follow the rules. Another book written by Lois Lowry, similar to the Giver is Messenger. Jonas is seen again in this book. He is being called leader by a few of the citizens of the new community of people who have been kicked out of their communities. This book is set in a Utopian or Dystopian society, too. A similar film to the Giver is the movie The Truman Show. The Truman Show is about a man who finds out his entire life is a television show. These two are very similar, because they are both set in Utopian societies. Both protagonists, Jonas and Truman eventually escape their communities.
Quarter One
The Giver
by Lois LowryI chose the Giver as my book for the Independent Reading Project, because I have always been interested in the concept of Utopian societies like the one in the book. One of my friends recommended this book, and it sounded like a great book.
Genre
The book The Giver falls into the genre of Utopian or Dystopian fiction. Utopian fiction is the creation of a perfect world as the setting for the book. Dystopian fiction is a perfect world gone wrong as the setting for the book. The Giver is also in the genre of fantasy or science fiction. Science fiction is the genre that deals with situations that while fictitious are plausible. They are mainly set in the future, and the book usually will include very advanced technology, like the ability to control weather in the Giver.
In the genre of fantasy, supernatural, or implausible happenings go on. In The Giver, one of these implausible things is the transfer of memories through touch. The Giver also falls into the category of a bildungsroman, or a coming of age story. Jonas comes of age when receiving the memories and learning about the world, Pre-Sameness. The memories he receives help him to grow as a person, and have emotions never felt in his community by anyone other than previous receivers. Jonas begins to come of age when he first is assigned to the role of Receiver in his community.
Summary
In Lois Lowry's The Giver, a young boy named Jonas is living in a Utopian society. When a member of his community turns 12, they are given a job. Jonas is assigned the special task of Receiver. The Receiver carries the memories of before the community went into sameness. As Jonas gets to know his mentor, the Giver, and learn about concepts such as family and love, he begins to get frustrated with the community. They will never know true pain, like war or starving, or true happiness, like love or family without memories of the past. Jonas struggles to maintain his place in society while he is emotionally more advanced than the community. Jonas and the Giver try to help fix the community and return it to pre-sameness.
Characters
Jonas is a seemingly average 11 year old boy. His whole life he has followed the rules and expectations of his community. When he turns 12 and gets assigned a job, he is given the rare assignment of receiver of memories. Jonas was selected for this because he shows himself to be capable of it. He shows a thoughtfulness not seen in other children. Jonas cares for the people around him in a way his classmates and his family cannot. Jonas is shown to be intelligent, perceptive and kind. Jonas has the ability to see colors that The Giver calls seeing beyond. "But when he looked out across the crowd, the sea of faces, the thing happened again. The thing that had happened with the apple. They changed. He blinked, and it was gone. His shoulder straightened slightly. Briefly he felt a tiny sliver of sureness for the first time." (p 63) Jonas chooses to use his volunteer hours in several places instead of sticking to one like most children. He enjoys the freedom of choosing which is not common in their community. As he begins his new job, all of these traits are strengthened. As he learns about families and love, he realizes that he loves his family in a way that they cannot return to him. "With his new, heightened feelings, he was overwhelmed by sadness at the way the others had laughed and shouted, playing at war. But he knew that they could not understand why, without the memories." (p. 135) He found many things about the community confusing or unfair. After starting his training with the Giver, he finds these things horrible and frustrating. The actions of the community upset Jonas and make him realize that the ways of the community are harsh and unfair. He and the Giver formulate a plan to restore fairness and freedom to the community.
The Giver is an old man who is, in many ways,a contradiction. He has the wisdom of someone who has experienced everything, even though his life has been truly uneventful. The Giver is quiet, thoughtful, and patient. He, like Jonas, has compassion for people in a way most members of the community cannot."It's the way they live. It's the life that was created for them. It's the same life that you would have, if you had not been chosen as my successor." (p 153) The Giver also feels the pain and sadness from the memories. He has the job of coping with these memories until they are passed to the next Receiver."Simply stated, although it's not really simple at all, my job is to transmit to you all the memories I have within me. Memories of the past." (p. 77) These emotions make it tough to cope with the loss of Rosemary, the receiver in training who requested release. The Giver has experienced not only his own pain but the pain of hundreds of generations before him. The Giver has spent his entire life taking walks, living comfortably, and eating well, but he has the pain of being tortured, starved and homeless. His love for Jonas eventually convinces him to stop accepting that the community has to be this way. He and Jonas stand up against them and return the memories to the community. The Giver stays behind, because he still cares about the future of the people and tries to help them cope with the memories the way he tried to help Jonas and Rosemary.
Jonas' father is a nurturer in the community. Other then the Giver and Jonas, he seems to be the only character to show real emotions. He shows compassion for his children and the new children at his job. He seems to have many similar traits to Jonas. He is very worried about the new children and feels pain when he has to release them, even if it is to a lesser degree than the Giver or Jonas.Towards the beginning of the book, he lets his daughter, Lily, keep her stuffed animal, even though she needs to stop sleeping with it because he knows how much it means to her. He also realizes that bringing Gabriel, a sick new child, home might keep him from being released, so he tries everything he can to help him. Jonas' father also shows himself to be a bit rebellious, a trait almost never found in the community when he tries to find Gabriel's name, because he thinks it could help him. " In the end, however, Jonas' father is still a member of the community. He agrees with Jonas' mother that the word love is "meaningless" and "overused". He still releases the new children and he is still part of the dystopian society.
Themes
There are a few major themes in the Giver. One of the most important of these is the relationship between pain and joy. Jonas finds this out through the memories he receives. He learns that without pain, there can be no joy. Regardless of the joy of an event, it cannot be fully enjoyed without the memory of what suffering feels like. You cannot fully value the feeling of pleasure or joy. Jonas' community, because the pain and suffering have been taken from their lives, cannot feel real joy.
Another important theme of The Giver is the importance of individuality. In Jonas' community, there is no individuality. Everyone's exactly the same. "It was the sort of thing one didn't ask a friend about because it might have fallen into the uncomfortable category of 'being different'." (Page 38). Jonas tries to break free of his communities' sameness. Jonas becomes an individual in his world.
A third theme of this book is the role memory plays in life. The realization in this book is the concept of not being able to remember mistakes and, because of this, not being able to feel pain or regret. However, without these memories, the society might repeat past mistakes. So the Committee of Elders created the position of Receiver. The Receiver collects all memories and occasionally advises the Elders. As Jonas undergoes training he realizes that without memories there is no pain, but there is also no true happiness. All of the themes of this book show the consequences of sameness. No one in the community can really feel happiness or joy. Jonas and the Giver try to save the community and help them to feel all of these emotions - good and bad.
Major Conflict
There are three major conflicts in Lois Lowry's The Giver. The first being Jonas' uncertainty in himself and in his role as the Receiver. "He hunched his shoulders and tried to make himself smaller in the seat. He wanted to disappear, to fade away, not to exist. He didn't dare to turn and find his parents in the crowd. He couldn't bear to see their faces darkened with shame. Jonas bowed his head and searched through his mind. What had he done wrong?" Jonas does not feel as though he is helping the community and eventually asks the Giver why he cannot just do a normal job.The second major conflict is Jonas' anger with his parents, his friends, and the community in general at their lack of understanding. Jonas has trouble coming to terms with the fact that his community will never understand his emotions. Jonas gets angry when his mother tells her family that she felt sad that day. He knows that she will never feel truly sad. He and The Giver are the only two who understand these emotions, and the knowledge of this upsets Jonas a great deal. The third major conflict in The Giver is Jonas and the Giver attempting to change society. Since the Giver was twelve, he was sure this was how it had to be. Once Jonas comes along and he realizes the pain put on one person is too much, he decides they need to rebel and fix society. It takes Jonas until around halfway through the book to be able to realize that the ways of the society are corrupt, and something needs to be done. Eventually, Jonas rebels against the communities' ways. While these three conflicts were very important, they all tie together and form the major conflict. The major conflict in The Giver is the man versus society aspect of the book. Because of their complex emotions, Jonas and the Giver are outsiders in their society, and they work to change that.
Symbolic Images
Words
Palpable - Page 3 - "Now, thinking about the feeling of fear as he pedaled home along the river path, he remembered that moment of palpable stomach sinking terror when the aircraft had streaked above."-easily detected, obvious
Petulantly - page 22 "...I think I'd like that, said Lily petulantly."
-irritably
Pervaded - page 122 But this time he fit right and felt the happiness that pervaded the memory."
-completely filled
Indolence - page 61 "What we observe as playfulness and patience - the requirements to become a nurturer - could with maturity be revealed as simple foolishness and indolence."
-laziness
Grotesquely - page 119 "The colors of the carnage were grotesquely bright."
-disgustingly
Similar Existing Works
Many other books and movies are similar to The Giver. In the book,The Uglies, by Scott Westerfield, there is also a Utopian community similar to the community in The Giver. Another similarity between the two books is the specific ages that events happen at. In The Giver, at age nine, children receive a bike. At age twelve, they receive their careers. In the Uglies, at age 12, the children are sent to Uglyville, and at age 16, the undergo the operation to become pretty. Another similar book series is The Hunger Games by Susanne Collins. These books are set in a world where rules are the most important thing in the society. In both books, rules are seen being broken (Jonas teaching his sister to ride a bike) (Gale and Katniss going hunting), but almost everyone in the community tries to follow the rules. Another book written by Lois Lowry, similar to the Giver is Messenger. Jonas is seen again in this book. He is being called leader by a few of the citizens of the new community of people who have been kicked out of their communities. This book is set in a Utopian or Dystopian society, too. A similar film to the Giver is the movie The Truman Show. The Truman Show is about a man who finds out his entire life is a television show. These two are very similar, because they are both set in Utopian societies. Both protagonists, Jonas and Truman eventually escape their communities.Goodreads Review Link
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/430199090
Quarter 2:
http://www.glogster.com/hannahjordan119/the-help/g-6l37gbb61eds9atpgff2fa0